#my next tattoo is going to be a massive horse skull

[frogdoesart03]

I’m obsessed with horses and bones, ofc my first post is going to be a drawing of a horse skull

[wu-sisyphus-gang]

Motion Sickness Chapter 7 Snippet

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I’d like to say that I’d been perfectly on guard and ready for the attack. I mean, I‘d told Ruby how the bandits were doing what they were doing. Setting lures and manipulating the Grimm. We hadn’t been subtle either, though.

Ruby playing ping-pong in the sky didn’t detract at all from our presence. She literally flew around, and we’d made no attempt to hide our attempt to save the village. We couldn’t. That made us obvious targets.

All that aside my semblance glows in the dark, and I’d been consciously trying to activate it while riding. We were just taking a mellow pace to try and get back to civilization, so I wasn’t doing much more than steering and thinking.

It suddenly worked and I just sort of lit up in the dark. Georgia jerked Ruby awake before I could do anything. “Huh- whats-“

My semblance is anti-stealth. If camouflage could collide with something and destroy itself and become pure energy, it would be my semblance.

She made out the blue blur that must have been me and woke up quick, “is something bad or good happening?”

“I-“

Then I got shot.

I was falling off the horse which was taking off someway. I was going to land flat on my back and my chest stung, too. The Titania plating was more than tough enough to take the bullet through my aura without fear of breaking, but not enough to not hurt.

Whoever fired had a friend that also tried to shoot Ruby, but she just burst into petals with a flare of aura and took cover behind a tree. Georgia, pre-spooked, may or may not have taken off in the direction of Indiana.

I’m not sure. My head cracked against a rock hard; hard enough to concuss or kill a normal person, even. I just rolled with it and found a tree to hide behind. I swept my sword from my back and stood with the sword tip down and my body hidden behind the tree.

“Are you hurt?” She wondered. “It wasn’t high power, or MA based.”

I shook my head. Twelve percent. Maybe ten, based on the discomfort. I peeked my blind and the tree lost a lot of itself in a small explosion of wood. I might have lost a few percent, too. If I wanted to use my semblance, then I’d need to use it before the power faded. Peeking out into the dark again, I saw nothing, however.

“How fast did your semblance activate that time?” She wondered. I guess we were the only ones in danger, so she felt confident enough to chat.

I shook my head. “I think I can charge it.”

“Oh, really? That’s useful.”

“Huh?” I was checking my chest to make sure I really was all good. Sometimes Aura was hard to believe. I glanced over.

“Oh, I just thought you were trying to keep me asleep again?”

“In a gunfight?”

She raised an eyebrow at me. “Ready?” She was waiting on my mark. Poised with Crescent Rose ready to snap into place.

I folded my weapon, slipping my left arm into the shield and drawing the sword free. I swept out from cover with Ruby, perfectly synchronized. Humans and animals usually responded to audible stimuli faster than visual ones, even still I didn’t say anything as I leapt out of cover. Ruby was in perfect harmony with me regardless and she was already prepared to use me as cover to fire out.

We gazed out into the dark in a shower of petals and I held my sword up to extend a soft blue glow. We received no fire and perceived no targets in the dark trees. Therefore...

We were already mid ambush on this position.

I whipped around in time to be thoroughly jabbed at by three quick stabs of a small and fast dagger. The girl behind it wore a simple tunic and dark olive skin with some visible even darker tattoos.

She slashed at me and I stepped back, trying to make some space. I heard Ruby call out behind me, likely engaging my opponent's friend.

I leveraged my shield between us, but she jumped off it and backflipped above me. I watched the eighteen-centimeter blade in her hands fold inwards like a fan or accordion. She let it roll across her fingers like she was reversing a butterfly knife and its form became that of a jagged pistol.

She shot me twice more as she twirled over me. A confident grin like she'd killed a thousand idiots like me roaring on her face, which may be the case.

I turned around, grabbed Crocea Mors with both hands over my head and whipped it at her. It caught her at the pinnacle of her leap in the center of the blade and it slammed her into the ground nearly ten meters away.

It was immensely satisfying to watch a deep green crackle come over her. It was hard to fake that. I'd done something to another hunter.

I didn't get to soak it in, because it became clear why Ruby was being kept busy while I was keeping up. We were outnumbered.

Ruby shouted out again, something very helpful that I couldn't interpret without our connection. With it, I was able to spin around and meet the butt of a spear. The man behind it knocked me back and reversed the weapon.

It was shorter than the longest reach of Crescent Rose. He was also shorter than me by nearly ten centimeters. Maybe more. He was also at least ninety pounds lighter and much less broad across.

I was able to avoid his attack but all it did was force me back into the range of the girl with the green aura in purple. Her light blonde hair was held back into a tight ponytail. To keep it out of her eyes, I imagine.

She had the glow to her that all people with aura had that made them stand out. The hue of her eyes. The shine of the hair. How she backflipped and kicked me in the face before burying her blade at my collar bone.

It bounced off my aura and armor and I heard Ruby call out and the last opponent, a girl in mostly white and brown with pale skin and red hair, flew by. She slammed into a tree next to me hard enough to shake it.

She slumped down with blue aura pouring over her and she lay without moving.

The dude turned around only to eat lead from Ruby's gunfire before she was on him. The purple girl shouted the dude's name and I dashed towards her while she was distracted. I got my shield between us before she could rip any more of my aura out.

She tried to regain her advantage, but it was already lost. She rushed me but I'd had practice with similar ranges of weapons with Ren and even some other people back at Beacon not worth mentioning.

I was ready for her to go low and I predicted her movement with my shield. I slammed it into her face. I took my sword in both hands once she was air-born and lashed out in two hits. The first one knocking her up, the next bashing her out with both hands. I ended it with a shout.

She landed on her back and pushed herself away from me. I watched her land back next to her friend with black hair.

I glanced back. Ruby was dancing circles around the poor guy, out-speeding and out-ranging him. Slowly picking his aura off in large tan chunks.

I rolled my wrist with my weapon over the one with my shield and the two clicked together into the massive broadsword. I pointed it down at the two girls. The girl with the purple tattoos didn't get the memo and was fumbling for her friend’s sword but she only looked up to meet the lowered business end of Crocea Mors.

I clicked my tongue. She met my eyes and must have known I wasn't kidding because after just a moment of consideration, she dropped it.

"Jaune!" I whipped around. Ruby's enemy had left the fight. He abandoned it and ran straight at me, some desperate jailbreak but…

I stepped forward and swung. My semblance… I didn't realize I'd gained it.

"Don't-" Ruby finished her eyes wide.

I stepped threw him and across the other side. I turned around.

I watched as the boy fell apart.

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Killing someone was something new for me. The cold Titania edge glided through first aura then muscle and bone as I swung in a tremendous cross slash. I stumbled with it. I expected to meet resistance, instead I just went through.

I imagined it was cold. I couldn't feel it beyond the padded wrapped handle. The cold night air was constantly drawing warmth from my fingers like a giant heat sink. I actually felt that lessen, as the weapon moved through him. I had so much time to think.

I stumbled through the falling puddle of person. The spine and ribs were splintered and crushed. His upper body rolled around trembling in the gravelly mud and soft grass. His legs twitched behind me on the ground while he shuddered and gasped one horrific choking last.

I was hardly looking at him, I was staring at Ruby and she was gaping down at the body. I flinched, feeling scorched just being so close to the target of her dread. The sheer frost against my soul wilted me in a way that not even my mother's harshest glares could. I wanted to destroy it, but I was the source of it. The cold was me. I turned back to his compatriots.

I knew far better than to underestimate them. Unarmed or not. Woman or man. I'd gotten my ass kicked before.

They panicked when I stepped towards them, which was expected. Big dude, bloody sword, evidently homicidal. Yep.

I took two steps and halted at the sight of the terror on their faces. My emotions were ablaze, roaring in my chest, but my mind was stunned and muted.

Ruby was beside me in a scattering of petals, her hand on my chest. A gentle crimson touch. Her lips were tight but her eyebrows were wide. Bright eyes pleading with me, something desperate in them.

My indignancy over their reaction faded slightly, I mean, they did shoot me. My face, I realized, was twisted into something awful. My skull roared in a way I wasn't super comfortable with, clashing with the feeling of victory I deserved and the rush in veins. My heartbeat hammered in my ears for a terrible moment and I thought the sum of it all would drive me mad if I wasn't already.

My indignancy didn't fade entirely.

Ruby's gaze was so full of concern that I could barely hold myself together. I swept a hand through my hair, rubbing the whole of my face hard. The motion broke our eye contact and I felt her recede in the direction of our prisoners.

How dare Ruby empathize with a dog like me, honestly? As though something like her could empathize with something like me. The sheer audacity brimming in those eyes made me want to lash out, but against what?

I always meant to kill them; whoever was responsible, that is, but I hadn't wanted to get my hands dirty for real. It was inevitable upon retrospect. I'd need to kill again, too. Probably here soon. That wasn't really what scared me.

I… wanted to, too.

Ruby would understand what had just happened. Any sane person would. However, even the gore and the trauma of shredding a mortal coil with my own two hands didn't actually shrink my rage towards Cinder one iota.

I wanted to do it again.

I wanted to guide Crocea Mors through Cinder Fall's body. I wanted to watch her life fade. I wanted to feel it in my hands when I unwound her. I was hungry for it in a way that kept me up at night with an empty stomach.

That desire to make someone end felt gross. As gross as any of the bodies I had seen or… or made myself, I guess.

The sight of the guy with his staff was far, far easier than having to gaze at Ruby again. If I really felt so bad and gross, then why was I doing it anyway? How could I face her? Could I look at her and say this was an accident and then… then when I made my move, whatever that meant, what could I say?

I wanted to talk to her about it, too. I wanted to tell her how I felt. I wanted to tell her that every single day it ate me a little more.

Surely only she could save me, least I sink, though if she saw what I really was, would she still rescue me?

"Jaune," her soft voice returned me. "Jaune, I need you." I woke up from my stupor.

Ruby and the music were waiting for me to face them. She was right. This was no time to lose focus. Who was to say this trio was alone? They almost certainly weren't.

I focused my disgust and self hatred on the problem at hand. I felt like an ocean that was as still as a lake.

"Look you have no idea who you just killed, alright." The girl with the dark tattoos began.

I blinked, "well yeah. You shot me in the dark."

Silence reigned.

"Well Khagan Branwen isn't the sort to forgive people killing her people."

"Branwen…" I murmured, absently, trying to think.

"What did you just say?" Ruby spun her scythe off her back. The edge, a razor to the waking girl's neck. "What was that name? Branwen who?"

"Branwen, Branwen." The girl insisted. "Raven Branwen."

Ruby's face twisted into something awful. Something like disgust filled her as her nose twisted and she glared downwards. She put a round in the chamber.

"Khagan?" Ruby wondered.

"Branwen as in…" I struggled. "Qrow Branwen?"

Skepticism turned sideways in the kneeling girl's eyes. They flicked from Ruby's weapon up at me. "You know the Khagan's brother?"

"I thought she was Khatun Branwen," Ruby refocused.

"No, not anymore, not since the black-out. Maybe before."

"Jaune, uh, a little pow-wow?"

I bent down and grabbed the bandit's pistol. Her eyes followed it, as I collapsed it and slid it into a belt. It was actually well-made. Not Ruby Rose(TM) quality but the way it folded couldn't be cheap.

We stepped back, I matched Ruby's distance away from the prisoner. "Aunt Branwen?" I wondered. She glanced behind me at the captive.

"No. Not Aunt Branwen. She was-ugh- I wanted to..." She squeezed her hands tight at her side. "She was Dad's first wife."

"Oh."

"She abandoned us after Yang was born. She went here and started a horde of bandits." She snarled. She just spat the words out.

"Um." I just blinked.

"What do I do Jaune?" She reached out and grabbed my shirt.

How in the fuck could I possibly know?

I opened my mouth and stopped. Ruby looked up at me. I felt the tip of something press against my head.

When I got off the ground my head was ringing. I wasn't in a lot of pain. Well scratch that. The inside of my head pounded like an entire xylophone being struck at once over and over.

The girl with the gun… her weapon had a twin.

I realized, dazed. It was a sort of black flash when it happened. The point blank shot immediately dropped my aura to red and activated my semblance at the same time. It threw me forward and made me splay against the ground.

I lost sight of Ruby as the force tossed me but I am fairly certain I heard her gun fire again accompanied by the girl's arm twice more. One final crack of Crescent Rose, then there was silence.

I picked myself off the dirt with a groan, but I pulled my weapon into my hands and stood up. "Ruby?" I whipped myself around. I blinked a few times fast. My vision wasn't clearing.

At all.

I rubbed the back of my head, that would leave a bruise. Right above the occipital lobe, too. I really liked that hemisphere, two.

Vague grey shapes I distinguished using aura rather than with any means of light. I felt beyond myself in the ways Ren had showed me. I wasn't one half as good as him. I barely made out colored blurs before me. Mostly red and fading green on the ground but… no distant blue?

I expected a distant blue by the vaguish tree, there was nothing, though. "Jaune? Are you alright?"

"That's a hard maybe?" I gave, squinting. "The prisoner?"

"She's alive. Probably stable." Ruby judged for me.

"The other girl?"

I felt as much as saw the blur turn around. "Gone. A semblance, maybe?"

I nodded. I watched my own power fade, my aura turned to its usual dull grey and yellow, the charge wilted. There was nothing to spend it on and so it left. It took my breath with it as my gauge fell to empty. I felt exhausted and swayed on my feet.

Ruby caught me. My vision completely going. "Ouch," I confessed. "The horses?"

"They'll find us, you goof." She shushed. "I'll set up camp and secure her. Rest for a bit, alright?" I didn't have much choice. My head in her lap and her fingers against my forehead and through my hair and in my scalp was like a narcotic. I couldn't even try.

She cooed, running my hair through her fingers as darkness descended over even those details my eyes made out. "I'm sorry Jaune." She whispered, hands cupping my cheek.

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If you're enjoying these snippets give my fanfic Motion Sickness a chance.

-WG

[chibivesicle]

Golden Kamuy: chapters 255 & 256 - chaos at the brewery, superior private vs superior private, the death of the first Tsurumisexual

I was hesitant to write a stand alone 255 summary and I am glad that I waited until 256 was out.  I also had a busier than expected work week which kept me busy.  The fire that Jack set at the brewery was large enough that the local fire department is alerted to fight it.

The next few pages show how late Meiji era firefighters worked with a horsedrawn steam pumper.

The chief calls for a bugle player to call in the rest of the firefighters and they start spraying while the main pump starts.

This the allows us to see where some of the cast are.  As usual Shiraishi is near the fire fighters, he always has a tendency to know where the person in charge is, Ushiyama, Hijikata and then we see Boutarou is somewhere outside.

My most hated convict is there watching that everyone has assembled to find Jack.   He then has a fixation with the ladder.

I have no patience for Ueji, I really hope he’s not around much longer.

The action shifts to Asirpa still beating our convict until her sutu physically breaks.  I have to admit this concerns me since it shows that Asirpa may not have just been acting in self-defense/’basic’ punishment.  It indicates that she’s bolder or losing control of her own actions towards him.

Jack reaches out to grab her fur cloak and he holds here there as he reveals his ‘tragic’ backstory.  He was supposed to be the child of a prostitute and a member of the British Royal family.  Wow - riveting . . . . honestly, I found his backstory to be lame and I was like ‘on with it already.’  Still doesn’t really explain why a man would become a murderer . . . .

Asirpa then becomes more desperate and she threatens to stab him with one of her arrows if he doesn’t release her, while he insists he’s the product of a virgin birth. Since he was taken in nuns and raised in some sort of catholic setting . . .

What is important is that once she looks into his face after threatening she finally shows signs of PTSD from shooting Ogata.

Here face is sweaty and flushed and her pupils are tiny and she remembers Ogata collapsing on the ice floe.  I have been waiting so long for this to happen.  Asirpa is good at burying and denying her feelings and finally in a pinch her fears come to the surface.

Honestly, I am so relieved to have this happen in the story.

Sugimoto then arrives and tells Asirpa that killing Jack is his job.  He looks dangerous as his scarf flies back and he’s got the bayonet on his rifle.

Asirpa meanwhile is in the foreground arrow in her hand.  There are then several pages of Sugimoto stabbing and disemboweling and stabbing our convict before he kicks him out a window.

With luck, he falls out near Ushiyama who finishes him off with a skull smashing step.  I’ve never been a huge fan of Ushiyama, but I do like his line about how prostitutes are divine beings to him, remaining on earth to help others.

This seemed a lot more fitting than Sugimoto telling him what you do with your life is important.  I’m also curious how damaged his tattoo is after being slashed open across the belly. 

Now it is unclear if Sugimoto and Asirpa will be reuniting with Hijikata or not, since the skin has been delivered to Ushiyama.  I’m curious to see if they rejoin his group of if they break off again.

The action finally returns to the events that I am most interested in; the fight between Ogata and Usami.  The english translation has Usami calling Ogata by his first name as he beats the crap out of him while he tries to hold him off with the rifle.  Usami is upset since previously Ogata called him a ‘cheap piece’ on a chessboard and he did not like it.

We get a close up of Ogata’s bloody nose as the rifle moves. The next page makes it clear that Usami has grabbed the rifle and he proceeds to empty the remaining bullets and even kicks them away on the floor.

Usami is making sure that Ogata has no chance to fire at him and knows that if Ogata tried to fight back with the rifle alone, he’d have no chance.  Of course, Ogata goes to grab another clip, but Usami judo rolls him onto the floor and Ogata turns over and begins to crawl back to the rifle.

It seems like Ogata has some sort of thought in the first panel as Usami stands over him and tells him that he’s essentially useless without a gun.  I’m under the indication that when it comes to fighting and combat that Usami finds him useless since both of them have done things non-combat related.

Usami then boldly pulls the bayonet off of Ogata’s belt.  Usami then falls into the trope of overconfident monologue individual.

Ogata doesn’t give a damn about Usami’s monologue to him, he’s got to beat him and we get a close up of Ogata picking up an individual bullet between his bloody lips.  He’s got something in mind.

Usami then insults Ogata as being a son of a prostitute he can’t call Usami a cheap piece.  We know that Usami was raised in a normal but poor samurai family with both parents and siblings.  He feels that since he comes from a more reputable (though poor) background he has more legitimacy than Ogata which we know is the common perception of Ogata in the 27th.  We will need to know who told everyone he was Hanazawa’s illegitimate son to know how long the bullying went on for.

Usami then has self-reflective moment about how badly he’d wanted to say this to Ogata for at least a year by this point.  This has given Usami a pause to his advance and Ogata uses his tongue to push the single bullet into the open rifle. He still looks back at Usami and knows he can do this since he’s not paying close attention to Ogata crawling across the floor.

As Usami prepares the bayonet, Ogata flips the now loaded rifle towards him and Usami seems surprised.

The final page of the chapter shows what a point blank rifle shot does to Usami.  He’s been shot at close range and there is a massive blood splatter behind him, bayonet still in hand.  The chapter ends with Ogata calmly looking over his shoulder and smoke floats away from the barrel.

What a way to end the chapter!  I had been waiting for something like this for sooo long.  Usami fell in to the trap of ‘oh look at me, I’m going to let my emotions allow me to monologue’ . . . Ogata used the fact that he’s bad at close combat to crawl across the floor to the rifle.  Usami thought it was good enough to empty the rifle but he completely underestimated the tenacity of Ogata and his plan to reload his rifle in the most horny way possible. 

If Usami and Ogata are indeed pieces on a chessboard for Tsurumi, this has shown that Ogata is a much more valuable piece.  Or perhaps are all of them of equal value and Ogata just said that to rile up Usami?

Something that really stood out for me was how Usami’s approach to stab Ogata with a bayonet was very similar to chapter 5 when Sugimoto was over him about to stab him and Asirpa stops him.  Ogata then has the pause to poke Sugimoto in the face facilitating his escape.  In that instance, it was the combination of Asirpa and then Ogata that allowed for him to escape. 

With Usami, the only person in charge of Ogata’s escape is Ogata.  It this telling us that Ogata has leveled up?  He’s now taking ownership for saving himself?  No one else came to his aid, he did it all on his own a change for him since when they were in Edogai’s house, Sugimoto had to save him from the random guy from the 27th. . . . Just something to ponder.

Either way lets get to 256 where the action continues!

The chapter stards with Usami falling back as Ogata on autopilot ejects the spent shell to ready the rifle to be loaded and fired.

Usami tumbles down the stairs and Ogata pulls out another clip to load the rifle. As wounded as Usami is, he moves quickly enough to get out of visual range of Ogata.  He holds on the the railing of the stairs as he bleeds out his back and realizes his spat with Ogata isn’t important.

He needs to tell something to Tsurumi.  Is it what he saw on Kadokura?

Meanwhile Ueji is messing around with the firefighters.  He’s pulled on some of the hoses and begins to climb up the ladder as people wonder what he’s trying to do and Usami exits at ground level.

Usami finds the horses for the fire engine around the same time that Sugimoto kicks Jack out the window.  This inadvertently catches Ogata’s attention.  Ogata then looks out the window to spot Usami on one of the horses below.

Usami is pretty rough, holding onto his chest where Ogata shot him.  Ogata takes his time to set up his shot, breaking the glass and resting his rifle on a crossbar in the frame.  Ogata then tells Usami that if he’s that worried about being a cheap piece .  . . he needs to know what Tsurumi’s face looks like at his funeral.

Ogata has made it clear that Usami is not making it to Tsurumi alive.  His goal is to stop him. 

I think that Ogata is drawing on his own personal experience and observations of Tsurumi.  He knows that his mother was a ‘cheap piece’ to his father since he never came to her funeral.  He also got to see Hanazawa’s dying facial expression which let him know what little he thought of him as the son he ignored.  Ogata also knows Tsurumi well enough that he’ll reveal how he feels about Usami in death, so really if Tsurumi cares about him, he’ll get what he wanted.  Ogata likely has mixed feelings on this; his own experience is that no one cares about others in death, and he likely wants Tsurumi to be cold and calculating not giving Usami what he wants. 

To snipe Usami, Ogata levels up, Usami is able to round the corner of the building, but thanks to Sugimoto kicking Jack out a window it is now open.

Sugimoto then is walking away from the open window and another window faces towards Usami.  Noda ramps up the tension of Ogata aiming at the open window where Sugimoto is. . . . but just as Sugimoto moves out of the line of fire Ogata takes aim and fires.

We get a unique bullet view of his shot!  Oh no? Has Ogata decided to snipe Sugimoto instead?  Pfffttt!  Of course not.  Ogata is the type of sniper who gets his mark.  His shot enters Usami’s back and exits his chest likely near his heart.

This tells us several things.  Ogata really doesn’t give a damn about Sugimoto.  He could have shot him, but really why?  There is no point, his target was Usami.  He’s off to rely information to Tsurumi. 

I also wonder if Sugimoto even heard the shot after he walked away from the windows?  There was no indication as such in 255.  All of these events highlight that Ogata’s goals have nothing directly to do with Sugimoto and his flawed reasoning that Ogata is out to get him really needs a reality check.

Back to the action, Usami falls off the horse and is dramatically caught in Tsurumi’s arms.  Usami looks at Tsurumi while Ogata thanks him.

He then removes his bandage to reveal a glass eye and he declares that he is now completed as a sniper.  This refers back to when he was retraining how to to use a rifle with Hijikata.  He stated he would only be a sniper, if he actually killed a person not more ducks.

For comedic effects, his glass eye pops out and he catches it.  It looks like Ogata now has historical overlap with the French Canadian sniper Leo Major.

The chapter returns to Usami dying before Tsurumi.  He hands over he copy of a skin that he got from Kadokura.  He then begins to speak about Kadokura, while Tsurumi looks down at him softly telling him he’s done well.

Usami reaches to touch Tsurumi’s face.  There is then a very uncomfortable scene where Tsurumi sucks on his pinky finger before he bites it off.  He tells Usami that this will allow them to live on together.  He tells him that he’ll be living inside him as his number one friend.

So, unlike saving Olga and Fina’s finger bones he took from Russia, he’ll just digest and absorb Usami instead. . . .

Usami than smiles as he dies, telling Usami that he’s so happy that he’s going to come from the feeling as he starts to call him by his first name before he dies in Tsurumi’s arms.  The next panel shows Tsurumi holding him in his arms.

As a nerd with a minor in art history, I immediately noticed that this was a reference to Michelangelo’s famous sculpture of Jesus laying in the arms of the Virgin Mary, the pieta. 

First, based on how Usami’s death impacts Tsurumi, he can rest assured that he wasn’t a cheap piece.  Second, Tsurumi has stood in for the Virgin Mary again in the context of scenes.  I’m honestly curious where Noda is going with this Tsurumi = Virgin Mary bit.

The chapter then ends with Ueji standing on the smokestack of the brewery looking for everyone’s attention.  I guess he wants everyone to try to attack him at once?  Or is he going to jump to his death and result in the destruction of his tattoo making things impossible?

Overall impressions for the events of these two chapters.

1.) Jack was a lame convict.  He did not interest me and his only importance was to get Asirpa to recognize her PTSD when she really tried to threaten him.

2.) Noda tried to tease the readers with Sugimoto-Ogata conflict but it shows that Ogata doesn’t look at Sugimoto the same way he looks at Ogata.   Sugimoto thinks Ogata is messing around, an agent of chaos, but this is anything but that fact.  It also shows again that Sugimoto thinks he’s more critical in the gold hunt than he is.  Asirpa is key, he’s just going along for the ride and Hijikata has tried to eliminate him, as has Ogata, Tanigaki and Tsurumi.

3.) Asirpa is showing finally that she was impacted by when she shot Ogata.  About time, then again, Asirpa and Ogata are very similar characters with strong internal compasses and repress their feelings.

4.) Ogata has returned to wild-type.  The past few chapters he has been on fire.  He out smarted Vasily, and was able to defeat Usami.  Many of us wondered if his sniping days were over - he has proven otherwise, but him sniping Usami was both defensive and a highly tactical decision.  It seems that Ogata has gained a new will to live, he fought his way out of very difficult situations and did everything alone (and with the help of his Yuusaku subconsciousness).  It appears that Tsurumi’s statement of not wanting to have him fighting against you holds up and his own name that he is a single man but equal to one hundred.  Ogata also shows even if he may have emotions and feelings about how others treat/perceive him, he doesn’t like it cloud his judgement or actions.

5.) Usami got the death he wanted.  I’m a little annoyed that Usami got the death he dreamed of, he gained praise from Tsurumi and was told how much he cared about him.  Usami died happy in his arms.  Perhaps, this indicates a sort of guilt/responsibility that Tsurumi felt towards young Tokishige back in Niigata?  If he didn’t have Usami judo fight his friend, maybe he wouldn’t have snapped and become a perfect and loyal solider.

That’s all I have for now.

[wolfkissed-drengr]

Female Eivor - Drabbles pt 1

Just some short connected drabbles about her childhood in the Raven Clan.  I had some headcanons and they needed to be written!

A/N: These are some headcanon that were stuck in my head. (One of the first times a game has given me any, outside of dragon age!) Most are very short, and go in order, starting from Eivor’s childhood. Maybe I will expand on them later, who knows. 

*spoilers for my writing*

I begin to touch on some body issues Eivor has, but I do not suffer these issues in my real life. If I do it misjustice, please let me know and tell me how to make it better!

*spoilers over*

Synopsis: Eivor begins to heal.

Word count: 1426

Warnings: There are some childhood crushes happening, but a little kiss is all that happens. Some descriptions of gore, and the beginning of body issues.

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In her mind the fires raged. In front of her on the ice lay her fathers head, and in the next blink, her father was kneeling before his murderer. Next to her was an axe that she could not lift. Then she was on her back, throat, neck and skull all on fire. The wolf was above her, salivating bloody drool onto her face. She struggled for the axe that still lay beside her and as the creature bore down again, two raves swooped and stunned the massive beast. It was enough time for Eivor to pull the axe up as the ice cracked around her small body. Her legs dipped and cold fire burned there as well. She screamed as the wolf's teeth bit into her again, sinking deeper, but stopping as its furred body dropped onto her, axe having sunk into its neck. As it collapsed on her and drug her further under the water, a hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled her out of the water. Her body was wracked in shivers as Sigurd's head swam in her vision- blackness pulling at the edges. There was a ringing sound, like when the blacksmith struck metal, and Sigurd's mouth was moving but nothing was coming out. Between one blink and the next, she woke up in bed, screaming- but that hurt like fire in her throat. Within an instant a tattooed face of a woman appeared in front of her eyes, hands gently coaxing Eivor back onto the bed.

"Calm, little one, calm. You live yet, and should not move or speak." Once she was sure Eivor was not going to be moving, the woman turned and went back to working at the table next to the bed Eivor was laying in. Eivor tried to speak again, and tears sprung into her eyes at the pain. Instead, she found herself mouthing the words 'what happened' over and over, looking pleadingly at the Völva.

"The wolf tore into your throat, deeply. You live, by the luck of the gods, but you may never speak again." Finally turning back, the Völva peeled off the bandages that wrapped around most of Eivor's upper torso. Applying a thick paste, the wound was rewrapped, and a drink was pushed to Eivor's lips. Drinking deeply helped soothe the throbbing in her throat, so she bore the taste without hesitation. Almost immediately, sleep tugged at her mind, and she laid back, deeper into the bed and slept.

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It took weeks for her to be allowed out of that sickbed. In that time, the fire in her throat died down, but never went away. She still could not speak, and she was even weaker than she had been the night of the slaughter. Sigurd came to see her many times. He would stay and talk to her, despite her being sullen and angry. He became a rock for her and her emotions. Upon his insistence, they came up with a basic language for Eivor. Using her hands and different gestures, she was able to communicate for the first time in months. The first time she was able to get through an idea she wept.

Sigurd brought her news of what happened as well. That his father was bringing her into his house as a ward. She was to be Sigurd's sister. There was an unfamiliar emotion roiling in her stomach at that though, but she did not know what it meant, and ignored it.

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Walking was hard. The muscles in her legs all but wasted away during her recovery, and it hurt to use them. The Völva forced her to, though. Praised her when she managed further each day, until she could walk without aid for hours at a time. She wept then too. The muscles in her arms were both easier and harder to fix. The undamaged side went quickly, but the side the wolf had mauled was weak. For nearly a year, lifting her arm above her head was impossible, and she could barely hold things. The Raven Clan became her home in that first year. Many of the villagers giving her small tasks to do such as running notes, to help. She had taken to trailing Sigurd like a shadow. In her mind, it was because he was the only one she could 'talk' to, but that roiling emotion was still in her belly. She was learning to ignore that as much as the ache in her muscles. One evening as she tried to find Sigurd, she overheard Dag complaining to her brother that he gave too much time to the weak Wolfkissed girl. She froze in despair, and never heard what Sigurd might have said back.

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One of the good things, Eivor mused internally, about living with the Völva and her daughter, was that most of the village left them alone unless they needed something. This let Eivor try to regain her strength without looking a fool. Valka was always coming up with strange ideas for Eivor to try. This week, it was holding a rock and squeezing it as tightly as she could for as long as she could. Both girls were thrilled when, after the week, they realized Eivor's grip has strengthened enough to help hold her when trying to climb. They sat on the roof of Svala's house and shyly kissed. After that, they lay curled around each other while Eivor cried in relief. Her arm and hand strength recovered quickly after that. She did as many chores as she could, lifting and carrying crates and boxes for Svala, and anyone else in the village. Sigurd made a game of it for her, making her find him in the strangest of places. It almost always required her to climb and always left her sore and tired after. After she was able to climb with easy, Sigurd swept her into a tight hug and spun her. Her cheeks flushed as she hugged him back just as hard, but in her mind, the feeling she got when she kissed Valka and how she wanted that with Sigurd. She pushed the still roiling feeling down instead. She moved out of the Völva's house then, and into the longhouse with the King and Sigurd. Eivor still made the trek to Svala's house as often as she could, often with a wood axe strapped to her back. She would practice swinging it as much as she could. In the beginning, she could barely lift it and she fought back tears as she was reminded- each time she could not lift it- of her parent's death and how she could do nothing. She swore to herself she would never be so helpless again. She would be a Drengr, like Sigurd was becoming.

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It was the following year that as she managed to finally throw the axe and have it stick into a target her and Valka made that she made her first noise since the incident. It was a scratchy meager yelp as she stumbled, but it made her freeze. Valka shouted in excitement, and barreled into her, knocking her into the snow. It would be one of the last times she wept. Her tongue was clumsy in her mouth at first. But, just like her legs and arm, she pushed and pushed until it obeyed what she wanted. She stumbled over her words like a babe at first, but week by week she was getting better. Her voice never lost the rough, horse quality to it though. She didn't mind. A few months after she learned she could speak, curled up on Valka's roof, Eivor whispered her deepest secret to the other girl. Sometimes she felt wrong in her body. She would look to the other boys in the village and wonder why she was a girl.

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As she grew leaner and more muscled, the scar stuck out deeply in her skin. It covered her whole shoulder and neck, a deep and ugly thing. She thought back to Dag's words. Wolfkissed. As Eivor crouched over the stream looking at her reflection, she agreed with the name. It was a strong name, a good name for a Drengr. "Eivor the Wolfkissed, they will all know me by. A Drengr, a fighter, I will be battle blissed. Valhalla be my rest when I die." After a year of forced silence, words became as close a friend to her as Sigurd was. She rarely held them back and found a love of flyting. She battled words as often as she practiced her blades.

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